Guy Thomas’s Comments

We can argue about the quality of the content, but let us say that what gets produced by Big Content is valuable. What the pirates are saying is here are some new distribution tools to monetize the vast increase in availability. Use the fucking tools already and quit whining about how times have changed.

Oh, and quit hijacking the political system with your truckloads of cash. Your head in the sand approach results in fundamental rights being trampled on and you seem to think that it is ok for that to be the collateral damage.

I have to say that the battle against SOPA/PIPA has restored a bit of my faith in US democracy, but not all my faith. The overwhelming response from the advocates of the bill have reinforced my belief that normal course of business in US government is that it operates more as an aristocracy than a populist democracy. The elites expect to pass laws based on their will. The elites use financial resources to influence who gets elected and hence what laws get passed. What is interesting about last week is that through direct action the will of the people was heard. It is worth noting that the will of the people was not being represented by the elected officials which is not what most people expect of a democracy.

I do not pirate content. All the content that I consume I have bought (ex. Cable) is directly from the artists (who I think are the actual content creators if I am not mistaken). Artists that know how to connect with fans and offer their work at an affordable price.

Putting an end to the ability of people to offer innovative distribution mechanisms will just end the ability of people like me to support artists with my purchases. Who is killing the artists now?

Last night I learned that one of the major players in the shipping container world (Seaspan?) gave up a patent they had in order to enable a worldwide standard for container corners. By doing so they enabled a universal standard for how containers were picked up by cranes. That enabled a revolution in worldwide shipping. The patent would have got in the way of that progress. So there are precedents for how patents can hinder progress.